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Heatseekers
Ewan Jackson on heartbreak, hindsight and finding comfort in looking back
Benjamin Bahr
30 June 2026
Heatseeker 💥 Heartfelt, harmony-rich and quietly affecting, Ewan Jackson's The World From Here finds beauty in heartbreak, memory and the hope that quietly follows both.
Some songwriters chase the perfect hook. Others chase the perfect sentence. Sydney-based singer-songwriter Ewan Jackson is quietly doing both.
Across The Mess That We Made (December 2023) and follow-up EP The World From Here (October 2025), Jackson has built a body of work that's intimate without being insular, pairing vibrant indie rock with careful storytelling and harmonies that linger long after the final note. The songs are strong, while his striking voice is sincere and earnest without tipping into cheese, remaining captivating from beginning to end. Sonically, he sits somewhere between the fragile beauty of Elliott Smith and the muscular heart of Gang Of Youths, with just enough Billy Joel to put a smile between the sighs.
Now, with the two EPs being brought together for the first time as What I've Done So Far, he's closing one chapter while already looking toward the next.
We caught up with Jackson to talk about heartbreak as a creative catalyst, learning to trust his own instincts, writing from his flat while his partner plays piano in the next room, and why he hopes his music feels like looking back on your life with kindness.
Let's start with The World From Here. It feels like a step forward, but still very much you. How do you see this new EP as a continuation or evolution from The Mess That We Made?
They're both dealing with love and loss, as a lot of music does. The Mess That We Made is comprised of some of the first songs I ever wrote because I was dealing with my first serious heartbreak, which was a level of emotion I'd never felt until that point and it really felt like the only way I could honestly express it. The World From Here was written when I was back in a similar place but with a bit more of an understanding of how it would feel. Mess is a pretty sad goodbye whereas World is a parting of ways and a hopeful look toward the future.
There's a lot of reflection in your writing. Even the title What I've Done So Far hints at looking back while moving forward. Do you see this bundle as a sort of time capsule or milestone?
Yeah it definitely feels like an ending to me. These two EPs were written, recorded and released across almost four years of my life so they are a time capsule of my early twenties and my life in London.
You've been described as "brimming with fresh and emotive ideas." What kind of emotional or creative space were you in while writing these new songs?
I wrote a lot of this music during some pretty dark times personally. It was always spurred on by pain that I found difficult to verbalise and writing about it was a catharsis. As I said before though, I started to look for silver linings and it helped me realise that music doesn't always have to come from such a strenuous place.
You record from your flat, with your partner playing piano in the next room. That's a beautiful image. What does that shared musical space do for your process?
Yeah these EPs were recorded in studios with friends back in the UK but everything I've been working on since has been from my flat. Me and my partner have made our home entirely based around music so it means writing and recording is so comfortable and that's allowed me to start making music that feels even more personal than anything I've done before. It also means I've got a strong musical opinion to bounce ideas off of which has given me a lot of confidence to lean into the things that make me sound like me.
Your songs balance thoughtfulness with energy, indie rock hooks with emotional weight. Who are some artists who've helped shape that blend for you?
There's too many to name but I have a few that I think have had a pretty big influence in my songwriting. The first is Billy Joel, who perfected the marriage of musical complexity, emotional expression and catchy hooks. Then there's Andy Shauf who's one of the best songwriting minds alive. His unique sense of harmony, his arrangements and his storytelling is unmatched. Flyte also delivered one of the best singer-songwriter albums of the century in 2023 with their self-titled album. Last but not least, Gang Of Youths, because David Le'aupepe is a lyrical genius.
You've already picked up radio support across the US, France and the UK. How does it feel to know these stories you're telling from your Sydney flat are being heard across the world?
It's awesome! I had no idea until recently that my songs, especially 'Watering The Feeling', were getting played around the world. It's really special knowing that people out there like my stuff enough to want to share it.
When you listen back to The Mess That We Made now, what do you hear: pride, cringe, gratitude, something else entirely?
I feel so proud of that EP. I feel like I can hear all my friends that played on it, their musical sensibilities and how they used their skills to make my songs more than what they were before. I'm so grateful for all of the time and effort that they put into that music.
The latest single closes The World From Here EP. What made it the right one to leave listeners with?
It just felt like that phrase summed up what I was trying to say. I wanted to document how I felt in that place and time, how the world looked from my room in London and the life I was living. A lot has changed since then and I like knowing that I have something to remember that time with.
There's a real intimacy to your production, the harmonies, the pacing, the sense of space. Do you prefer working alone, or do you see yourself leaning more into collaboration next?
Mess started with me working with a lot of friends to get the music out. I didn't have experience in a studio and I wasn't confident enough in my own taste to definitively say what I wanted. The group got a little smaller when we made World so I had to be a bit more decisive and now I'm working almost entirely solo. It's a really different way of doing things but I do feel like it makes what I'm working on right now sound even more like myself. I've loved everything I've done with other people but right now I'm testing myself a bit with this solo approach.
If What I've Done So Far is a book of your first two chapters, what might chapter three sound like?
I think I'm leaning into more of my own thing. I'm almost finished with an album that I want to release next year and it's even more intimate in terms of production and songwriting I feel like more of my personality comes across in a lot of the songs and I've become confident enough to let songs be simple.
What do you hope people take away from your music right now: a feeling, a thought, a question?
I want my music to feel comfortable. I'm always reminiscing so I want my music to feel like looking back on your life. Even the sad stuff can be looked back on fondly once you've got some distance.
And finally, what's one song of yours that means the most to you personally, and why?
'The Mess That We Made', the title track of the first EP. That song felt like the first thing I wrote that I really imagined into existence. Everything before that felt like I was grasping at clouds but Mess felt like I wanted to say something and I made exactly what I wanted.
THE WORLD FROM HERE EP AND SINGLE OUT NOW INDEPENDENTLY
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